Dell Pushes Tablets Over Netbooks

Dell, which has long been dismissive when asked about prospects for netbooks, or mini-laptops, is instead pumping tablet computers as it promotes its own product in the category.

Dell

Dell’s Streak tablet computer

Dell will likely launch its 5-inch Streak tablet in Asian countries including China and India early next year, Steve Felice, the company’s president of consumer, small and medium business, said Friday in a teleconference with reporters. Dell started selling the Streak in the U.S. this month and in the U.K. in June. Dell has said it hopes to sell the tablet in China.

Felice declined to comment on Streak sales so far, but cited and agreed with analysts’ projections that tablet devices will hurt netbook sales.

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“There are still a lot of netbooks being sold, but I think they’re going to continue to decline in terms of total mix versus what they did the last couple of years,” Felice said.

He also reiterated Dell’s stance that “from a customer experience standpoint, mainstream notebooks are better” than netbooks. Netbook sales have boosted Dell rivals such as Taiwan PC makers Asustek Computer and Acer, but the lower-price machines can also mean lower margins, perhaps helping explain why Dell has shied away from them.

Felice also said he expects Dell’s Aero smartphone to be available in most of Asia and will “very likely” be available in India, by the end of the year. U.S. mobile carrier AT&T said in March it would sell the Aero, Dell’s first U.S. smartphone, but both the Dell and AT&T websites still say the phone is “coming soon.”

Dell late last year chose China to launch the first sales of its Mini 3i smartphone. But Felice declined to comment on any talks with Chinese mobile carriers about introducing new phones.

“We’ve still been in what I would call testing mode in China, so we have a limited number of models, and I don’t really see that changing dramatically in the near future,” he said.

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